Now a police officer serving in a town nearby to her childhood home, Miranda now feels that her life is evolving exactly how she wants it to. It all derails when her colleagues make a connection between the crime scenes of two murders; the first being the visceral slaying of a local man and the second the shooting of a police officer on the same force as herself. Miranda herself can objectively see that she is the common denominator between the two. The first murder victim was Miranda’s abductor from so many years ago. The second victim was the officer instrumental in her juvenile arrest.

Wounded by the lack of support from her police chief and colleagues, Miranda finds herself on suspension and not knowing who to trust. It is the memory of the other girl tied up in the woods, the one who the police didn’t believe existed, that haunts her still.

THE OTHER GIRL has a noticeable lag in the first few chapters but picks up welcome pace as Miranda becomes more isolated from her colleagues. Her job, which has always been her saviour, being taken away from her, is a huge blow. There is a small cast in this novel so you don’t have many characters to cast your suspicious eyes over; this serves well to sharp focus on those close to Miranda who may be saying all the right things whilst thinking the complete opposite.

There is a small romantic sub plot that doesn’t take away from the action and as the walls close in on Miranda, the novel takes on extra threads where she reunites with her estranged family and re-discovers more of what really happened to her in the past.

THE OTHER GIRL is a fast beach or plane ride diversion that will distract and entertain those readers who don’t need too much of an investment into a complicated plot. There has been good character development work put into this book and by the novel’s end, we feel that we have come to know the characters well and understand their motivations.